The Trouble With Falling

NINETEEN

Hartley

Well,this is a mess.

I can’t believe that I slept with Eli last night. Don’t get me wrong, it was great sex, but what’s going to happen between us now?

I don’t have that much time to ponder it. Eli is supposed to be here soon to pick me up. We’re having one last dinner with his parents before they leave tomorrow. It seems weird, but I’m more nervous now than I was before the first dinner that I had with his parents.

I’m kind of freaking out a little bit. Eli and I didn’t talk about last night when he left this morning. He was in a hurry to head back to Great Falls to pick his parents up from his aunt and uncle’s house.

I hadn’t thought anything of his silence this morning, or even this afternoon, but his text half an hour ago seemed strange.

Eli: I’ll be there in fifteen.

He’s not reallya man of many words, but he’s never been so… I don’t know how to describe it. There’s just something almost cold about his message.

I’m probably just reading too much into it. You can’t really get tone from text messages. I’m just anxious to see Eli and make sure that we’re okay.

I want us to be okay.

He’s probably just as freaked out as I am. I’ll just act normal and I’m sure things will go back to normal.

My phone beeps with a new text and I frown when I see that it’s Eli letting me know that he’s outside. He’s always come up here to get me, so why is he texting me this time?

He’s probably just running late. Or maybe he wants to keep the truck warm since it’s so cold outside.

I slip my parka on and grab my keys and phone before I head down the stairs. Eli’s truck is idling by the curb out front and I jog over, opening the passenger door and hopping in before Eli can get out to get my door.

“It’s freezing out!” I say, shivering and aiming the passenger side heat vents at me.

“Yeah, it’s the wind,” Eli says as he turns one of his vents my way too.

“Thanks,” I say with a smile and he seems to relax.

See? He was just nervous about last night too. Just act like it was nothing and everything will go back to normal.

He tells me about seeing his aunt and uncle and having to dodge the usual questions about when he’s getting married all day. I laugh at how tired he sounds by all of it and he glares at me.

“I also got some questions about where we disappeared to last night. Be prepared for my mom tonight,” he warns and now it’s my turn to groan.

When he pulls up outside his house, I stop him before he can get out.

“Should we talk about last night? Do we have a story or something that you already told them?” I ask.

He looks up at me, his dark blue eyes clashing with mine.

“I just let them assume that we went off to have sex,” he admits.

“We did go off to have sex,” I say with a giggle.

“Yeah, we did!” Eli says, holding his hand up for me to high five.

I slap my palm against his and laugh.

“Okay, just be coy and—”

“And avoid talking about sex with my parents at all costs,” Eli finishes.